How Dogs have Evolved
Every wonder how “Man’s best friend” evolved? With over 350 different breeds, from the Chihuahua to the Great Dane, all dogs have descended from the Grey Wolf. The domestication of dogs by man dates back at least twelve thousand years. Domestication of the wolf may have begun with orphaned wolf cubs brought into villages and raised by children. Ancient man may have also started the domestication process by befriending wolves which helped them hunt and drive herds. (Kodat, 2002)
Having a semi-tame wolves has its advantages. For example, the acute hearing of the wolve would alarm the human if danger was near at night. However, as civilization evolved, the jobs of dogs became more varied and specific; as a result, different breeds were created to handle different jobs. Selective breeding has allowed human manipulation to create the traits that you see in your dog today, such as the pushed-in face of the pug, or the speed of they greyhound to catch its prey. The domestic dog has been the most widely kept working, hunting and companion animal in human history. The dog quickly became ubiquitous across world cultures, and was extremely valuable to early human settlements. For instance, it is believed the successful emigration across the Bering Strait might not have been possible without sled dogs (Kodat, 2002).
No matter how far the dog evolves from it ancestors, there is still a great deal of wolf present in the domestic dog. Dogs are still genetically wolf and they share seventy eight chromosomes. The two species are still able to cross-breed, creating the wolf hybrid, which (unlike the mate of a horse and donkey, a mule) is not sterile. Over the thousands of years, we have shaped dogs through breeding into dogs with floppy ears, sleek coats, and short noses--exactly the opposite of their distant ancestor. We have created dogs to suit our